Backing up audio files -we all do it, right?

M

mcmd

New member
My computer now requires about five attempts to boot-up, and sometimes longer. I won't bore you with the details, but I try not to turn it off.

My second PCI slot stopped working after I installed a new audio card, about a year ago. My USB saved the day.
My 4Gig harddrive is 75% full and I have never backed-up my audio files, - 2 years worth!

So, I am going to buy a USB CDR/W or a USB harddrive (40-60G). What's your preference? Which would you recommend and why?

CDR/W strengths:
I could make make two back-up disks ( one safety) and purge my harddrive, and free-up disk space, ( and speed up performance).
I could start burning CD's and actually listen to my music!

Harddrive Strengths:
Fast
?
?hmmmm...

It's looking like a CDR/W.
What do you think?

Thanks,

DJ
 
Hi DJ,

I would go with the CD-R/W. If you back up to an external drive you are still facing the same problem- when the drive breaks your data is gone.

It will take *forever* to burn all those CD's but its well worth it. Just pick a day when you're cleaning the house and check in on the computer every 20 mintes or so. Then pick another day and make second copies of all of them. Put them is a safe place- like your bomb shelter. ;)

The disadvantage to USB devices in general is that you won't be able to play your songs off of either one of them. Even the USB Harddrive will probably be too slow to stream all the tracks that your internal harddrive can. That means if you want to remix a tune that you have backed up you'll have to load it back onto your internal drive.

Definately the cd-r. Making audio CD's is way too much fun and makes its it much easier to check your mix in different places.
 
Chris/Matty Thanks.


I am looking at the QUE! USB 2.0

"Our new 24X10X40 drives are the fastest CD-RW drives available and maintain the highest quality and stability while creating a 650MB disc in approximately three minutes.

Question?

If the above CDR/W can write 650MB in 3 minutes, then it's going to take about 12 minutes to back-up the the 2 Gigs in my audio folder.

...or, do I have to write each song project separately? Eitherway, why would it take all day?

Thanks,

DJ
 
I still don't trust burning anything at faster than 2x, which takes a hell of a lot longer than 3 minutes...
 
I would go with a CDR drive. However I would also spend some time trying to figure out why it takes 5 trys to boot up your PC.

And while I understand not wanting to burn AUDIO CDs at fast speed, burning data CDs (such as back-up files) should work fine at whatever speed your drive can do.
 
Alchuck - whats the story with these new CDR's that are promising burn guarantee? My friend has a iomega 24 x burn and he claims that it never fucks up even at 24 x in fact iomega claim it won't fuckup. I always use the verify in Nero which takes almost as long as the burn but at least I know all the data is there.

cheers
John
 
So, a faster burn rate will introduce errors into the data?

How can you check whether the drive has screwed-up?

Do you have to verify against the source file?

Lastly, is there an acceptable error rate, or is *zero error* the only acceptable outcome?

Thanks,

DJ
 
John Sayers,
Alchuck - whats the story with these new CDR's that are promising burn guarantee?
Click to expand...

I dunno. I guess the technology keeps improving -- I remember the first ones that were on the market burned at 1X and if a truck went down your street when you were burning, you'd end up with a coaster. Maybe they really can burn reliably at that speed.

mcmd,
So, a faster burn rate will introduce errors into the data?
Click to expand...

Well, it's more likely to, is what I always understood.

How can you check whether the drive has screwed-up?Do you have to verify against the source file?
Click to expand...
I'm not sure.


Lastly, is there an acceptable error rate, or is *zero error* the only acceptable outcome?
Click to expand...
Audio CDs have error correction schemes so if some of the data is unreadable or screwy it's not that noticeable. A corrupt data file on a data CD is a corrupt file, though.
 
Chuck,

> I remember the first ones that were on the market burned at 1X and if a truck went down your street when you were burning, you'd end up with a coaster. Maybe they really can burn reliably at that speed. <

Yes, high-speed CDR drives work fine. I use mine all the time, burning at 20x, and I never make a coaster. But I will never buy anything from iomega again. My current drive is a Yamaha and it's been just fabulous.

--Ethan
 
"Burn Proof" Technology adjusts the drive speed so that the buffer never empties which would cause a buffer underrun error(coaster). Most of the better new drives have this feature.

Twist
 
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